This disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine, and more particularly to a buffer cooling system that establishes a buffer cooled cooling air path for conditioning portions of the gas turbine engine.
Gas turbine engines typically include at least a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. During operation, air is pressurized in the compressor section and is mixed with fuel and burned in the combustor section to generate hot combustion gases. The hot combustion gases are communicated through the turbine section which extracts energy from the hot combustion gases to power the compressor section and other gas turbine engine loads.
Gas turbine engines typically channel airflow through the core engine components along a primary gas path. Portions of the gas turbine engine can be conditioned (i.e. heated or cooled) to ensure reliable performance and durability. For example, some parts of the compressor section and the turbine section, such as rotor assemblies that carry rotating blades, may require conditioning during engine operation to cool such components.